Filmmakers of Weldi to Attend the Film's World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival

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The Closing Film of the Directors' Fortnight

Filmmakers of Weldi to Attend the Film's World Premiere at the Cannes Film Festival


The filmmakers of Weldi will fly to France to attend the film's world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival (9 - 19 May) as it ends the festival's Directors' Fortnight section. Weldi's filmmakers attending the festival are; actors Mohamed Drif and Zakarya Ben Ayed, actresses Mouna Mejri and Imen Cherif, producers Dora Bouchoucha, Lina Chaabane and Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne, distributors Hédi Zardi and Alaa Karkouti, and director/writer Mohamed Ben Attia.

Weldi is the second feature film by director Mohamed Ben Attia after his film Hedi, which won him the Best First Feature Award, and the Silver Berlin Bear to actor Majd Mastoura, at the Berlin International Film Festival, as an unprecedented achievement for an Arab film at the festival, along with many other international awards and honors.

Written and directed by Mohamed Ben Attia, Weldi is produced by Dora Bouchoucha's Nomadis Images, Les Films du Fleuve and Tanit Films. The film is distributed by MAD Solutions in the Arab world.

The film marks the second collaboration between Ben Attia and the production companies and the distribution company after the film Hedi. It is also the fourth time that MAD Solutions distributes a film produced by Producer Dora Bouchoucha, as in addition to Ben Attia's films, the company distributed the feature film Foreign Body by director Raja Amari and the short film Astra by director Nidhal Guiga.

Weldi follows Riadh, who is about to retire from his work as a forklift operator at the port of Tunis. The life he shares with his wife Nazli revolves around their only son Sami, who is preparing for his high school exams. The boy's repeated migraine attacks are a cause of much worry to his parents. But when he finally seems to be getting better, Sami suddenly disappears. The film stars Mohamed Dhrif, Mouna Mejri, Zakaria Ben Ayed, Imen Cherif, Taylan Mintas and Tarik Copti.

Writer/Director Mohamed Ben Attia was born in Tunis in 1976. He studied audiovisual communication at the University of Valenciennes in France after graduating at the Institut de Hautes Etudes Commerciales (IHEC) in Tunis in 1998. He has directed five short films, Romantisme, Deux Comprimes, Matin Et Soir (2004), Kif Lokhrin, winner of the Silver Award at FESPACO 2006, Mouja (2008), Loi 76 (2011) and Selma (2013), which was selected in the international competition of Clermont Ferrand Festival 2014 and won several awards in various festivals. Hedi is his feature debut.

Screening Times of Weldi at the Cannes Film Festival (GMT +2)

Official Screenings
Sunday, May 13th at 11:45 am at Théâtre Croisette (A press screening, followed by Q& A)
Sunday, May 13th at 08:45 pm at Théâtre Croisette

Rescreening
Monday, May 14th at 11:30 am at Les Arcades 1
Monday, May 14th at 09:30 pm at Studio 13
Friday, May 18th at 11:30 pm at Cinéma Alexandre III